1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an image-capturing apparatus, and more particularly to a portable image-capturing apparatus that is capable of capturing a three-dimensional image and a panoramic image.
2. Description of Related Art
There has been proposed a variety of apparatuses, which capture a three-dimensional image with two optical systems provided in one camera (Japanese Patent Provisional Publication Nos. 6-273172 and 8-317424). There has also been proposed a method for selectively capturing a three-dimensional image and a normal two-dimensional image with one camera (Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 8-317425).
The above-mentioned conventional apparatuses require that two image-capturing optical systems should be loaded in the body of the camera, and thus, the camera is large as a whole. When capturing only a normal two-dimensional image, the camera is not portable and is difficult to handle.
There has also been proposed an adapter that guides a right-eye image and a left-eye image into one optical path. This adapter, however, divides effective pixels of an imaging device into two areas, and it is therefore impossible to achieve satisfactory image quality.